Can you hand out this peace diploma on May 18?

Friends,

Can you help to distribute this Peace Diploma at John Hopkins University’s commencement on May 18? The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore annually distributes peace diplomas at Johns Hopkins University’s graduation ceremonies.  This year's JHU commencement ceremony will take place at the Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore 21201, on Wed., May 18.  The procession begins at 4 PM.  We would distribute peace diplomas form 3 to 4 PM, and transportation can be provided. RSVP at 410-323-1607 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.

Kagiso, Max

PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE-Baltimore, 325 East 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218 

Call 410-323-1607 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net.

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES & FAMILIES May 18, 2016

We, members of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, bestow this Peace Diploma with the hope your lives will be one of seeking peace and working for justice. As you depart from Johns Hopkins University, you may realize recent events have highlighted the many problems we face in Baltimore--extreme pockets of poverty, income inequality, a lack of living wage jobs, police brutality and other ills. These problems can only be solved with a significant infusion of tax dollars. 

Sadly, however, some 50% of the federal discretionary budget goes to military expenditures, despite the great needs of cities and states.  Unfortunately, the university, especially through its Applied Physics Laboratory, is #45 on the Top-100 list of military contractors, receiving $759 million for FY 2015. See http://www.bga-aeroweb.com/Top-100-Defense-Contractors-2015.html. Its military contracts include submarine security and survivability, combat systems and guided missiles, theater air defense and power projection and unmanned aerial vehicles/Reaper and Predator killer drones. Tax dollars expended on military research is a theft from the poor.  

 Killer drone strikes which help create more terrorists are immoral and unconstitutional.  Even U.S. citizens have been killed by drone strikes without any semblance of due process.  At least one was a hostage, Warren Weinstein, held by al-Qaida.  President Obama, who authorized the drone strike, admitted he was unaware Weinstein was on the premises. 

   Go to https://nlonthedl.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/the-militarization-of-hopkins/ to read “The militarization of Hopkins” by Matthew Petti, a first-year JHU student, which appeared in The News-Letter on December 3, 2015. Petti noted that Johns Hopkins was a Quaker, and then wrote this: “VICE Magazine recently conducted an investigation on campus militarization, publishing the results in an article called ‘The Most Militarized Universities in America.’ The Johns Hopkins University ranked number seven. The authors claimed to use a variety of variables to determine ‘the closest relationships with the national security state, and [those which] profit the most from American war-waging.’”

GET HOPKINS OUT OF WEAPONS RESEARCH. DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS.

  Support the Johns Hopkins students determined to protect public health by having the university divest from fossil fuel companies. “We are doing so because we must stop the increase in global temperatures, the rise in sea level and the loss of biodiversity before we reach a tipping point of catastrophic climate change. To do this, we must cease our reliance on fossil fuels.”  Go to https://www.facebook.com/RefuelOurFuture/?fref=ts.  Sign their petition at https://docs.google.com/…/1OZk78XYqxmq08oPn4UYBsEL…/viewform.

   We in the peace movement will continue to speak out.  We urge you to add your voices to urge Johns Hopkins University to focus only on humanitarian research and to divest from fossil fuels corporations. The government must take money from the Pentagon and then Save Our Cities, including Baltimore. 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject